How To Count In Swahili (Up To One Million)

Counting in Swahili is very simple (compared to, say, French) so it is likely you can learn to count all the way up to a million in less than a day.

It’s also quite a beautiful language to count in, if I may say so myself!

Let’s start with the basics.

How to count to ten in Swahili:

One to ten in Swahili is rather straightforward, however there are a couple of words that might look funny in written form. No need to worry – they’re actually very easy to pronounce, as explained below.

One – Moja (pronounced moh-jah)

Two – Mbili (imm-bee-lee)

Three – Tatu (tah-too)

Four – Nne (inn-neh)

Five – Tano (Tah-noh)

Six – Sita (See-tah)

Seven – Saba (sah-bah)

Eight – Nane (nah-neh)

Nine – Tisa (tee-sah)

Ten – Kumi (koo-mee)

How to count to twenty in Swahili:

Eleven through to twenty is extremely simple, and if you can count to ten, you can use all the same words to count up to nineteen.

The basic structure is to simply say “ten and…”, so for example, eleven will be “ten and one”, twelve will be “ten and two” and so on. It really can’t get any simpler than that!

Eleven – Kumi na moja

Twelve – Kumi na mbili

Thirteen – Kumi na tatu

Fourteen – Kumi na nne

Fifteen – Kumi na tano

Sixteen – Kumi na sita

Seventeen – Kumi na saba

Eighteen – Kumi na nane

Nineteen – Kumi na tisa

How to count to one hundred in Swahili:

Counting to one hundred is almost as easy as counting to twenty.

The structure is exactly the same – “twenty and one”, “twenty and two” and so on.

However, you will need to learn new words for twenty, thirty, forty, and so forth.

Here’s how it goes:

Twenty – Ishirini (pronounced ee-shee-ree-nee)

Twenty one –Ishirini na moja (literally “twenty and one”)

Twenty two – Ishrini na mbili (literally “twenty and two”)

and so on…

The same structure is applied to all the numbers from thirty up to ninety-nine.

Thirty – Thelathini (pronounced theh – lah – thee- nee)

Forty – Arobaini (uh-row-buh-ee-nee)

Fifty – Hamsini (hum-see-nee)

Sixty – Sitini (see-tee-nee)

Seventy – Sabini (sah-bee-nee)

Eighty – Themanini(theh-mah-nee-nee)

Ninety – Tisini (tee-see-nee)

How to count to one thousand in Swahili:

Counting through the hundreds up to one thousand is done by using the word mia (pronounced mee-ah), which means hundred. Like so:

One hundred –Mia moja

Two hundred – Mia mbili

Three hundred – Mia tatu

Four hundred – Mia nne

Five hundred – Mia tano

Six hundred – Mia sita

Seven hundred – Mia saba

Eight hundred – Mia nane

Nine hundred – Mia tisa

Also note, to add on numbers in the tens and ones, you are not required to use the word na.

For example, to say one hundred and fifty, you do not need to say mia moja na hamsini.